Publius Terentius Afer - Publii Terentii Afri Comoediae - 1701

CAMBRIDGE 1701: ONE OF THE MOST PRESTIGIOUS ACADEMIC EDITIONS OF TERENCE
The edition of Publio Terenzio Afro’s Comoediae printed in Cambridge in 1701 constitutes one of the masterpieces of English classical publishing in the 17th and 18th centuries. Realized on Cambridge University presses for the famous London publisher Jacob Tonson, it brings together British typographic excellence with the philological rigour of the best European humanistic tradition. The work is enriched by a splendid engravable frontispiece allegory, by a careful apparatus of textual variants, and by an elegant layout intended for scholars of the great English universities. The copy preserves its refined contemporary full-leather binding, richly tooled, a testimony to the high level reached by the art of English bookbinding at the beginning of the 18th century.
WHY TO BUY
• Prestigious Cambridge university edition of 1701.
• Printed for Jacob Tonson, the most important English publisher of the time.
• Magnificent allegorical frontispiece engraving.
• Text critically revised with manuscript variant apparatus.

MARKET VALUE
The great English university editions of Terence published from the late 17th century to the early 18th century are highly valued on the international antique market. Complete copies with the frontispiece, preserved in the original binding and in good condition, are generally traded between €1,500 and €3,500, with higher quotations for particularly fresh copies, of illustrious provenance, or exceptional conservation.

PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION AND CONDITION
Quarto volume. Fine contemporary brown leather binding with rich blind-stamped borders on boards and a five-nerved spine decorated with floral tools and the original title stamp. Boards with widespread signs of use, spine wear and natural abrasions compatible with more than three centuries of history; losses along the hinges, front board detached, back board almost detached. Sprinkled edges. Magnificent frontispiece engraved on full page. Typographic title-page. Paper of excellent quality, fresh and well preserved, with wide margins and very slight browning. Numerous woodcut ornaments, historiated initials, and ornamental tails. An authentic, complete copy of notable collectible charm.
In old folio – Frontispiece engraved. Title-page. Preliminary matter. Text of the six comedies with variant apparatus. Final index.
Numerous typographic ornaments and woodcut initials. Pages [4], 520.
In old books, with a long history, some imperfections may be present, not always noticed in the description.

FULL TITLE AND AUTHOR
Publius Terentius Afer.
Publii Terentii Afri Comoediae. Ad optimorum exemplarium fidem recognitae. Accesserunt variae lectiones, quae in libris MSS. et eruditorum commentariis notatu digniores occurrunt.
Cantabrigiae, Typis Academicis, Impensis Jacobi Tonson Bibliopolae Londini, MDCCI (1701).

CONTEXT AND SIGNIFICANCE
Publio Terenzio Afro represents the apex of classical Latin comedy. His six plays, inspired by models of New Greek Comedy and in particular Menander, became from antiquity the main model of linguistic elegance and dramatic construction. During the Renaissance, Terence’s theater was one of the pillars of European humanistic education and continued to be studied in schools and universities until the 19th century. The Cambridge edition of 1701 was born in the heart of the English scholarly season, when the great British universities devoted enormous resources to the critical publication of Greek and Latin classics. Thanks to systematic comparison of manuscripts and the commentators’ notes of earlier scholars, this printing offered one of the most authoritative texts available at the time, intended both for teaching and for philological research. The elegance of the typographic presentation also reflects the high level reached by English publishing during the Newtonian-Lockean-Dryden era.

BIOGRAPHY OF THE AUTHOR
Publio Terenzio Afro (circa 195–159 BC) was probably born in Carthage and came to Rome as a slave, later winning his freedom. In a very short career he wrote six comedies that would exert immense influence on Western literature: Andria, Hecyra, Heautontimorumenos, Eunuchus, Phormio, and Adelphoe. His clear and elegant Latin became the unrivalled model for the humanists and for teaching Latin. The famous line “Homo sum: humani nihil a me alienum puto” is among the best-known moral maxims of classical civilization.

PRINTING HISTORY AND CIRCULATION
Terence’s works were among the first classical texts to be printed after the invention of printing and enjoyed extraordinary diffusion throughout Europe. The Cambridge edition of 1701 belongs to the most prestigious period of English university publishing and was issued for Jacob Tonson, a publisher who played a decisive role in disseminating the classics and modern English literature. Thanks to careful textual revision, critical apparatus, and high-quality printing, this edition was adopted by the principal British universities and widely circulated in the libraries of European scholars. Today it stands as one of the most sought-after eighteenth-century editions of Terence’s complete works.

BIBLIOGRAPHY AND REFERENCES
Brunet, Manuel du Libraire et de l’Amateur de Livres.
Graesse, Trésor de Livres Rares et Précieux.
Dibdin, An Introduction to the Knowledge of Rare and Valuable Editions of the Greek and Latin Classics.
Moss, Manual of Classical Bibliography.
ESTC – English Short Title Catalogue.
WorldCat – OCLC.
Lowndes, Bibliographer’s Manual of English Literature.